My work explores the intersection of history, fame, and craftsmanship through the medium of woodburning. By creating portraits of famous individuals, I aim to capture not only their likeness but also the deeper essence of their public personas—immortalizing their impact in a way that is both tactile and timeless.

Woodburning, or pyrography, allows me to engage with the subject in a deliberate and thoughtful process. The slow, methodical application of heat to wood contrasts with the often fleeting nature of celebrity, grounding these figures in a raw, organic material that evokes permanence. The grain of the wood interacts with each stroke of heat, adding a unique texture that mirrors the complexity of the human experience, suggesting that behind the polished images of fame are nuanced, multifaceted lives.

By rendering these figures in wood, I invite the viewer to reflect on the enduring influence of cultural icons, while also questioning the nature of fame itself. What do we preserve? What is lost? Through these portraits, I aim to offer a moment of stillness, where the viewer can engage not just with the surface of celebrity, but with the lasting impact of those who shape our collective imagination.

Bio: John Reyer Afamasaga is a Polynesian-Samoan filmmaker and storyteller born in New Zealand in the 1960s. After moving to the United States in 2016, he settled in Mississippi a year later, where he continues to explore the deep cultural and human stories of the American South through film.

Since 2018, John has been crafting documentaries that spotlight resilience, creativity, and community. His second film Door Ajar—about M.B. Mayfield, an African American janitor who learned art through a door ajar at the University of Mississippi in 1949—won Best Mississippi Feature at the 2019 Oxford Film Festival. John was also nominated for the John E. O’Connor Film Award of the American Historical Association for his first documentary The Yard in 2018.

A graduate of UCLA Extension and Sundance Collab in screenwriting, John approaches filmmaking with the eye of a storyteller and the heart of a listener. His work bridges cultures and generations, honoring untold voices with empathy and cinematic grace. Grateful for the warmth and openness of the people of the South, John continues to tell the stories they’ve generously shared with him.

Statement: As a filmmaker, I’m drawn to stories of perseverance—people who continue to create even when the odds are stacked against them.

Work, Create, Repeat… grew out of my time in the Community Supported Artists (CSA) Program in Oxford, Mississippi, and witnessing firsthand the daily grind of working artists like Kira Cummings.

Kira’s story is both local and universal. It reflects what so many artists in Mississippi and around the world face today: the struggle to balance passion with practicality, creativity with survival.

As a Polynesian-Samoan filmmaker from New Zealand living in the American South, I connect deeply with stories that reveal the quiet strength of individuals who keep pushing forward, not because it’s easy, but because it’s who they are.

Work, Create, Repeat… is not just about one artist’s journey—it’s a portrait of resilience, of art as work, and work as art.

The film is my way of honoring those who create despite uncertainty—who continue to believe that their voice, their vision, and their craft matter. And the importance of funding for the arts.